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It’s a curated, shoppable catalogue of sustainable pieces with a nod to Irish culture and keeping commerce local. My mission in Sheebeen has always been to create an Irish site where there’s always something fresh and Irish-made to check out. I started out just wanting to combine my vintage Etsy shop and handmade Etsy shop in one place, but having my own site also meant I could write pieces on the history of antique jewellery or test out very different products (to varying success) with more freedom. Etsy likes everything to be cohesive and in a neat box. I’m not neat or cohesive in any facet of my being, sadly, so that held me back on the big commerce platform algorithms. My own site freed that up. This year I’ve also been able to add other artists’ work to the site so that they can trial creating and fundraising without having to manage the website/distribution end too. I’d love to expand on that idea.
My main qualifications are in biology and clinical trial management! I always wanted to work creatively and with my hands, it just seems like the most natural thing a person can do to my mind, but being a designer wasn’t always apparent to me as an option. When I said I wanted to do a portfolio in school, the art teacher discouraged me. The only person in our year who did a portfolio was a very gifted painter who was doing life-sized portraits with oil on canvas at 16! That was what artists were, according to our school. I never knew anyone who had an art career growing up so there was a heavy dose of, “if you can’t see it, you can’t be it”.
My first taste of creating and selling was raising funds for sea turtle conservation in Greece. Once I witnessed people actually buying my creations and valuing them enough to pay real money, I was hooked. I was flat out on the craft forums online and did my first market two years later. I’ve tried just about every craft and art discipline at this point!
It features three pieces; a ring, a pendant, and a pin all celebrating the icons that are the Sheela na Gigs of Ireland. I’m focusing increasingly on silversmithing under the tutelage of Paul at The School of Jewellery Ireland, but I still live to make and sell costume jewellery, and stock Irish-made candles, and lots of vintage accessories. Last year we launched a collective of Irish makers raising money for Palestine. Sheebeen provides a platform and distribution for those makers so that the full funds raised can go to Gaza.
I’ve been in or around the design scene in Dublin for about 15 years. You tend to see a lot of the same brands championed in the shops, it gets a little monotonous. I love the pieces that fall outside of that norm. Two favourites of mine would be the artist An Diabhal, and Jump the Hedges. I’m loving the current Celtic revival and there’s such a big difference between those like An Diabhal, who are interested in the full cultural texture of Ireland, and those who just want to cash in on the begosh and begorah. I’ve genuinely learned more about Irish ancient history from An Diabhal’s patreon than I ever did in school! Jump the Hedges is a sustainable Irish brand – someday I’ll catch one of their drops and own a bag handmade from recycled lorry tarp! I also love the work of We Make Good. They create fantastic cohesion even while working with and empowering multiple creatives. And sure look, I’m partial to a bit of Dunnes Stores… great homewares! Wherever I shop, I try to make an effort to shop with pro-Palestine brands and buy genocide-free goods.
It can feel very hard to justify your design practice if it doesn’t earn. I’ve had two to three other jobs on the go at the same time during a few stages in my creative career. There have been periods where my design career was a full-time income but that was usually hard to predict, so I always had other work on the backburner. I’m privileged now that I don’t have to rely on it for an income anymore, so I can apply my tastes to my work with less concern for pure commercialism. There’s a huge volume I could say on how that privilege is only available to a few, and how that survivor bias affects whose art gets to be seen in Ireland.
Consider yourself a juggler and every task is a ball. Which tasks will bounce and which tasks will shatter if you don’t prioritise them? Often the important things aren’t even that difficult, but we can over-focus on the difficult things so they move up our list by pulling our focus without actually being all that important.
I have two small children and I’m a stay-at-home mammy now. I have to cram a lot of work into nap time! I’m not naturally tidy or organised so I’m a list maker extraordinaire. I set timers for each time on my list. I also put rest on that to-do list. Sometimes it’s vital. For product photography, when you have a vintage business, every single item needs to be photographed from multiple angles to show condition, size, any flaws and more, so I got very used to taking lots of photos and editing on my phone. It’s not a particular passion of mine but it’s been incredibly useful at every phase of Sheebeen.
I was rushing to Dublin Castle with my sleeping toddler in the buggy, picking up my stamped pieces from the Assay office (who had been extremely kind in rushing through some pieces for me before a big Christmas market). I took them out after collecting them, saw my hallmark and had a tiny, happy sob out of nowhere. Each silver/goldsmith in Ireland has their own unique letter combination given by the Assay office so it’s like a minuscule bit of Irish metalwork history under your very own name.
I know from her podcast that Síle Seoige loves a bit of Sheela Na Gig iconography so I’d love her to own some of the Sheela Collection. I think a Sheela ring would look great on Kurtis Conner. The ring, particularly, was designed to be unisex, with some nice weight to it and looks equally good on all genders. Kurtis has great style, looks great in jewellery and often champions small designers. Oh and of course Nicola Coughlan cause she’s deadly! I love her style, her advocacy, and her gorgeous face!
Photography courtesy of Sheebeen.
